Maguindanao Massacre in the Phillipines

[the_future_modernes]

Philippines reels from mass killing - 24 Nov 09

Philippines 'witness' recounts killings - 26 Nov 09

The chief suspect in the killing of at least 57 people in the southern Philippines has turned himself in to local authorities.

Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor and member of a powerful political clan in the Maguindanao province, says he surrendered to prove his innocence.

But Aljazeera later spoke to a man who said he was there when the killings happened, and he laid the blame squarely on Ampatuan Jr.

Marga Ortigas reports from Maguindanao.

The Maguindanao Massacre

On 23 November, the wife and two sisters of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu went to the town of Ampatuan to register him for the 2010 elections for the province of Maguindanao in the Philippines. They were Genalyn Mangudadatu, Vice Mayor Eden Mangudadatu of Mangudadatu town and Bai Farinna Mangudadatu respectively. A recipient of death threats, Esmael Mangudadatu couldn’t register himself for fear of being killed, and the police and the army didn’t grant him protections such that he could. It was thought that women, holding a place of respect, would not be harmed. For extra protection, the three were accompanied by the two female lawyers of the family, Cynthia Oquendo-Ayon and Connie Brizuela, a number of other family members, drivers and supporters and, again for safety, journalists and their assistants. (Apologies, I can’t find a list of all their names. Wikipedia’s partial list of names is the best I can do.) Aquiles Zonio of the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that Eden Mangudadatu was heard to say, ‘This is women power in action. Let’s help our men chart a better future for the province’.MORE